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By Gretchen Keiser, Staff Writer
ATLANTA—Dorothy Miller, the founder of the Elaine Clark
Center and People Making Progress and the adoptive mother of 11 handicapped
children, died June 18 at her home in Chamblee. She was 59.
Coming to Atlanta as a Grey Nun of the Sacred Heart, Sister Robert
Therese, she taught at Christ the King School and Immaculate Heart of Mary
School in Atlanta. Work preparing a Down syndrome child for first Communion in
1965 led her to discover her great love and gift for serving disabled children
and their families. By 1969 she was given a large room at IHM for her work with
disabled children, leading to the creation of the Elaine Clark Center. Within a
few years she requested permission to leave the order in order to devote
herself entirely to work with the disabled.
The Elaine Clark Center and People Making Progress, which she
founded in 1988, are nonprofit organizations that continue to provide services
and job training to children and adults with disabilities in the metropolitan
Atlanta area.
A member of Holy Cross Church, Atlanta, Dorothy Miller adopted the
first of her 11 children in 1974, raising her family as a single mother with
the help of Social Security and disability benefits and the gifts and support
of others who were attracted to her loving work.
At the funeral Mass at Holy Cross on June 22, one of her sisters,
Sister Kathryn Miller, a Sister of St. Joseph, and other speakers said that
Dorothy Miller gave her children great love, but also expected them to become
as capable as possible.
“Dorothy’s was a tough love. Each of her 11 children was
hugged and loved,” Sister Miller said, “and challenged to be the best
they could be.”
“She challenged parents, teachers, doctors, lawyers to always
expect more of disabled children and challenge them to realize their
dreams.”
The homilist, Father Paul Fogarty, pastor of Holy Cross, told a
full church that love is the central theme of the Scriptures and, according to
the Gospel and the writings of saints, it is the true and final measure of a
person’s life.
“Real love requires hard work, commitment, patience and
dedication as so much of what we do will go unnoticed and unrecognized. Real
love is not something sporadic, but becomes a way of life for us,” Father
Fogarty said. “Dorothy has shown us how love can be practiced in our own
lives.”
Her sister said that “for Dorothy nothing was ever enough.
Nothing was ever too much trouble.”
“We know that on her own Dorothy could not have accomplished
so much for so many. In the 1960s people laughed at her for even thinking she
could teach children with so many disabilities ... Dorothy was never without
hope and her faith was profound.”
“I believe Dorothy has gathered us together this afternoon to
recommit ourselves to making a difference in the world,” she continued.
“Dorothy wanted to live to be 100 (because) there was so much more to do.
We must do it.”
She died “smiling and giving a thumbs up to those around
her,” her sister said. Her children “in their simplicity and freedom
... asked the angel to come from heaven and take her home.”
Of her 11 children, four have died and two have left the family.
Of the five who remain at home, four work and one is a student.
Dorothy Miller received numerous awards including ones from the
Christian Council of Metropolitan Atlanta, the Community Service Award of WXIA
Channel 11 and the St. Marguerite D’Youville Award from the Grey Nuns of
the Sacred Heart.
“My religious community is blessed to have played a part in
fostering Dorothy’s gift,” said Sister Barbara Harrington, GNSH, at
the funeral Mass. “We Grey Nuns will take credit for delivering Dorothy
here to Atlanta where she discovered her true vocation.”
She is survived by four daughters, Tmeeka, Carrie Ann, Tonya and
Mary Beth, three sons, Chris, Peter and Phillip; another sister, Marie Miller
of New York City; and a brother, John Miller of Elkins Park, Pa.
Contributions may be made to People Making Progress, Inc. or to
the Miller Family Trust, c/o Holy Cross Church, 3175 Hathaway Court, Atlanta
30341. |
